Disputes and Culture in an Urban Situation 2010
Foto: Ev. Kinder- und Jugendhaus Rottmannshof
Culture goes hand-in-hand with enquiry and examination, if not to say disputation. Since 2008 young people from Dorsten and its twin town Hainichen in Saxony have been exchanging arguments and observing conflicts, chronicling them in diaries and learning techniques, not only about how to settle conflicts in a peaceful manner, but also how to persuade conflicting parties to cooperate.
Their training has been based on the formula "RAD" - respect, attentiveness and discipline. This means being able to recognize conflicts and name them, as well as taking up a stance. "Am I being treated with respect?" The question then arising is how you would like to be/or not to be treated yourself, as a prerequisite to agreeing joint rules on how to treat each other. The core idea behind the project is: "The sole decisive factor is the way in which a conflict is conducted and solved". In Hainichen the themes chosen for the courses on conflict and disputation were anything but delicate. Subjects like "racism" and "intercultural competence" provided explosive material which demanded to be defused and brought under control. After a visit by young people from Dorsten to Saxony, where the mayor of Hainichen took part in the training, school students from Dorsten are looking forward to welcoming their fellow students from Hainichen in 2010 for the next round of deescalation.
Event:
June 2010
Dorsten
Project:
Monika Engfer, Verband Evangelischer Kirchengemeinden im Bereich Dorsten (D) / Keith Matschulla, Evangelisches Kinder- und Jugendhaus Rottmannshof, Dorsten (D)
Partner:
Matthäusschule Wulfen, Dorsten (D) / Mittelschule "Maxim Gorki", Hainichen (D) / Stadt Hainichen (D)